What Classifies a Federal Agent?
Counterintelligence (CI) is a unique and challenging field in the United States government and within the United States Army. Thinking of what we see in the movies or what we read in spy books, we all want to think that a federal agent is portrayed as a James Bond or Jason Bourne. We imagine someone who jumps from rooftop to rooftop or out of helicopters to catch the bad guy. It may not be what we see in theaters, but we can paint a picture of who may be an individual within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or any other federal agency. These entities are tasked to protect the country with utmost importance to national security. What characterizes someone
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embassies. The overall mission of the FBI is to protect and defend the United States. The FBI protect against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, they uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners. They also perform these responsibilities in a manner that are responsive to the needs of the public and is faithful to the Constitution of the United States (“Organization, Mission and Functions Manual: Federal Bureau of Investigation,” 2014).
CI Special Agents can conduct investigative operations within the CI field. An immeasurable amount of duties may include the investigation of national security crimes. Agents will use an array of functions such as conducting counterintelligence operations; processing intelligence evidence; protecting technology activities; preparing and distributing reports; source operations; debriefing; and supporting counter-terrorism operations (AR 381-20, May 25, 2010). The Army CI agents conduct all these functions to contribute to the same efforts as FBI. These functions fall within the same realm as the duties of FBI agents. Army CI agents also conduct mission alongside FBI agents.
There are many examples that Army CI and the FBI have worked in a joint capacity. One example that stands out to me is the William Millay case.
To uphold the law through the investigation of violations of federal criminal law; to protect the U.S. from foreign intelligence and terrorist activities; to provide leadership and law enforcement assistance to federal, state, local, and international agencies; and to perform these responsibilities in a manner that is responsive to the needs of the public and is faithful to the constitution of the U.S.: this is the mission of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A major goal I always strive for is the acquisition of enemy technology and weapons. Then having the technology or weapon analyzed and used to develop countermeasures or techniques, which will save U.S. Forces lives. Realizing I am not currently in an operational unit to accomplish this, I look at other issues in my career field. One of the issues I have noticed in my career path is the negative connotation towards counterintelligence agents. This exists for several reasons, lazy agents, inexperienced agents, or lack of knowledge of commanders. My goal is teach to younger agents there is always something they can be doing some kind of counterintelligence related work anywhere they are stationed. Also, confronting the lazy agents and either convincing them it is in their best interest to work or get out of the military occupational specialty and make room for agents who actually want to do the job. There needs to be an organizational change throughout counterintelligence to change how the intelligence discipline is seen by the rest of the operating
Counterintelligence is one of the most vital areas of the United States intelligence system, and is heavily intertwined with our history, laws and ethics. According to the National Security Act of 1947, counterintelligence (CI) is defined as “information gathered and activities conducted to protect against espionage, other intelligence activities, sabotage, or assassinations conducted by or on behalf of foreign governments or elements thereof, foreign organizations or foreign persons, or international terrorist activities.” It consists of five activities and functions: operations, investigations, collection, analysis and production, and functional services. In this aspect, CI is unique in that it is both an activity and its product. U.S. intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) collect and analyze both CI information and foreign intelligence. There are many counterintelligence activities that the United States is involved in, as both CI and foreign intelligence play an important role in countering threats to our country’s national security. Among these most controversial and misunderstood activities are counterespionage and disinformation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has the reputation as the world’s premier law enforcement agency with a vision to stay ahead of the threat through leadership, agility, and integration. (FBI's Strategy, 2017). As an intelligence-driven and threat-focused national security organization, the mission of the FBI is to protect the American people by upholding the Constitution of the United States, defend the US against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats; uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the US; and provide leadership and guidance of criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, international agencies and partners. (Today's FBI Facts & Figures, 2014).
Well their job description is all over the place considering the different branches and fields there are. For example there is the regular FBI agent then there’s the fact that you can be in fa special agency. Plus three are a lot of different agencies. Some of the things they do in these agencies include, “finger printing, lab services, public affairs, or manage”(FBI.gov). All of these different jobs are completely different considering that one day you would have to talk to a lot of people, and tell people what to do, and in the other you would have to sit behind a desk and never come in contact with anyone. This means that you would have to be flexible, and be lenient as to what you do on a daily bases. Another thing the fbi does is “detect and disrupt terrorist sleeper calls” (work.chron.com). This is another example of the diversity in the job. This also shows how important you are to the u.s , and how you will be put under pressure in your job. So if you don’t like being put in tough situations and being put under pressure, then this is probably not a suitable job for you. Another thing the FBI does is “work with lots of cyber-crime” (fbi.gov) This means that you’re going to need to be able to work , and properly work a computer . You would also need to have a liking to them considering they will be used all the time in the agency. Again if this is a problem then this job probably isn’t for
Although, it may seem the FBI knows about the majority of criminalistics situations; they have been doing this job for many years and many years to come. John continues, “The FBI originated from a force of special agents created in 1908 by Attorney General Charles Bonaparte during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt (2).” This organization has been serving justice since the Roosevelt years in the early 1900’s. Everything the FBI is capable of, could not be demonstrated with perfection if it was not for their structure. This structure consists of being part of the U.S. Department of Justice, which is headed by the United States Attorney General. The authority they are granted are to enforce the law on a federal level (Sections 533 and 534, Title 28 of the U.S. Code). These are the ways the Federal Bureau of Investigation works from the agencies missions, history of the agency and the impressive structure of the agency, which makes them one of the major aspects of the federal law to the United States of America. From the approval of President Roosevelt to establish the beginning of the FBI,
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, is a law enforcement and national security organization. “The mission of the FBI is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners” (“Quick Facts”). There are many different qualifications and requirements to become an FBI Special Agent but the salary and career outlook make them worth it.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) originated on July 26, 1908, as the Bureau of Investigation by U.S. Attorney General Charles Bonaparte. In 1935 the name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Director Mueller reconstructed the FBI to support the changes the Bureau made “to meet newly articulated strategic priorities” from 2001 to 2013 (Brief History).On September 4, 2013, James B. Comey was sworn in as the seventh Director of the FBI. The main focus of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is to prevent terrorist attacks against the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation enforces and carries out the criminal laws of the United States. “The mission of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners” (Quick Facts).
The working conditions to this job is to protect and defend the United States from terrorists and foreign intelligence threats with having to investigate in certain areas within our country infrastructure. Those including organized crime which is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals who intend to engage in illegal activity such as terrorist groups, bribery , public corruption, the public trust or abuse of position by federal-state or local officials and their private sector accomplices. Fraud is the wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain, bank robberies, kidnapping, terrorism, drug trafficking and espionage is the practice of spying typically by governments to obtain political and military information. All special agents
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is an agency that engages in the enforcement of laws at the federal level and is under the department of Justice. (Schlesinger, 2012) There are many challenges that the USA faces in terms of criminal activity that requires a singular approach that cannot be provided by the state departments of police whose jurisdictions are limited to the states they operate in. In this case, there is need for a policing agency that investigates transnational crime including espionage, drug trafficking and terrorism. This is where the agenda of the FBI derives. (Weiner, 2012)
The Central Intelligence Agency pursues the effort to enhance the protection of the republic and the democratic ideals of the United States of America when being threatened by foreign nations and the communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Hence, the gathering of intelligence through field agents becomes essential and the secretiveness of the operations is indispensable in order to obtain accuracy. Information on the actions in areas such as Poland, have caused field agents to have been entitled to research the current situation at both the levels of the populace and the central government. Apart from this region, operations in Moscow include the infiltration in the government and constant recruitment of agents in order to predict
FBI employees differ tremendously from all law enforcement agencies. Being one of the two higher supremacy agencies for the government, they contain different abilities of power. The CIA, which is stood for Central Intelligence Agency and the FBI are both associates of the U.S. Intelligence Community, but contrast impressively (FBI). The CIA has no law enforcement function: “Rather, it collects and analyzes information that is vital to the formation of U.S. policy, particularly in areas that impact the security of the nation (differencebetween.net)”. The CIA collects information only regarding foreign countries and their particular citizens, which could bring potential threats towards the U.S., while the FBI is a domestic enforcement agency,
This is only a brief description of the duties of the FBI which also consists of investigating bank robberies, white-collar crimes, and organized crime and drug syndicates. The ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) administers the U.S. Criminal Code provisions concerning alcohol and tobacco smuggling and diversion. The ATF is also responsible for enforcing all federal laws relating to firearms, explosives, and arson.
Intelligence analysts is a job that supports the special agent when they do their missions. Also, they warn them about dangerous situations (“Job of FBI”). Thirdly, language analysts help FBI agents solve the language problem. They help FBI agents communicate with the people from other countries (“Job of FBI”). Surveillance careers are agents who solve the internet problems. In this world, it is full of the internet. People can get any information from it, so it is important to have a safe internet (“Job of FBI”). Different agents have different missions. The FBI can protect Americans in different ways.
Counterintelligence (CI) involves actions aimed at protecting the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage from penetration and disruption by hostile nations or their intelligence services (Lowenthal, 2014). Three main components of Counterintelligence include collection, defensive and offensive. The collection is the ability to gather intelligence information about rivalry capabilities against own nation; defensive part of CI involves measures to prevent and thwart other nations ' attempts to penetrate into own nation 's intelligence system; while an offensive aspect deal with running double agents to penetrate, manipulate, exploit, and control targeted adversaries. CI is said to be the most essential aspect of the intelligence disciplines, in the sense that it helps in collecting vast quantities of secret information and produce an excellent analysis of intelligence, although, ineffective counterintelligence measures may diminish confidence in the final results (Van Cleave, 2013).